In recent years, key ring cards, such as the key ring element in U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,981 issued on Mar. 5, 1996 to Warther for a transaction card mailer and method of making, were introduced by grocery stores, health clubs and other establishments to register and identify their patrons. Also, Discover has introduced a small credit card. Before long, an individual may have many of these cards dangling from his/her key ring. The cards, which are unprotected, may be subject to a variety of wears and tears when the keys are thrown onto tables or other objects, or are placed in pockets and taken out of pockets. Moreover, the sharp metal teeth of the keys and other sharp instruments such as small knights on a key ring are capable of damaging the media containing barcodes and identification information. As a result, the cards may become unreadable. This unsolved problem may cause people to avoid using key ring cards and discourage banks from introducing smaller and more convenient credit cards that go with key rings.
Many wallets, pouches and similar containers for standard wallet size and other sizes of identification cards are available. Examples are U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,877 issued on Apr. 26, 1988 to Olson for a combination key ring and card holder, U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,624 issued on Apr. 21, 1998 to Baseley for an identification card holder, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,248,451 issued on Jun. 19, 2001 to Smith for a leather surround for decorative articles. None of those patents, which are not admitted as prior art of this invention by its mention here, seem to teach a method for making a key ring wallet for protecting key ring cards. Similarly, a jacket-like container, which is not admitted as analogous art of this invention by its mention here, was available for holding a car key. None of those wallets, pouches or containers disclosed in patents or seen in public use is suitable for protecting key ring cards.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for some protective device for the key ring cards, and there is a need for some key ring card protective device that can be made inexpensively, and there is a need for a method that can be used to protect key ring cards without adding significant inconvenience to the users.